I was a smoker for approximately 11 years before I was able to successfully move away from tobacco products. During this period I at various times tried various traditional quitting techniques (some more than once). These techniques were lozenges, gum, and patches. None of these resulted in me not using cigarettes for more than 30 days. Earlier this year (January, 2013) I started using electronic cigarettes. Since then I have ahd exactly 1 cigarette (at the beggining) which I had no interest in finishing. The desire to smoke a cigarette does not hold much allure. I can still be around people who smoke without any urge to ask for a cigarette. I started with 1.8% strength nicotine content and progressed from there to 1.2% then to 0.6%. Currently I sue a mix of 0.5% and 0% liquids. The slow progression toward 0 has been helpful as I could control my speed of decrease and mix usuage of various strengths as I decreased the nicotine content. 7 months later I really feel for the first time that I will never pick up another cigarette. A large part of this battle has been the nicotine component, however the other issue has been the simple habit. At this point I can still maintain the habit of taking a break, having a puff, even as I slowly have removed the nicotine content. I feel the ability to slowly sperate the two has been critical to my success this far. I simply feel the advantages of ecigarettes are being able to customize the solution to the indivual, one solution/plan doesn’t work for all. Since making this change I’ve noticed many positive changes in my life. For one I no longer run out of breath hiking up the parking structure stairs. Nor do I experience the strong cravings I did when I would go for a length of time without a cigarette, many times I don’t even notice time has passed. While I fully support efforts to restrict sales of nicotine products to those of age, I do not believe other restrictions are beneficial. While some may argue the safety/dangers of these products is untested, I do believe anyone would be hard pressed to say they believed electronic cigarettes were more dangerous than cigarettes. Placing considerable limitations on the products will limit the success of others who are trying to find an alternative to quitting cigarettes that works. Personally I know of 6 friends who have moved to electronic cigarettes to reduce and/or completely eliminate their cigarette intake. I know at least two of these people have had the same success I have had in completely reducing their cigarette intake.